Watson considering picking up Dep Leader challenge gauntlet?

As the SKWAWKBOX reported last week, Emily Thornberry is said to be moving closer to triggering a contest for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party after a rousing response to her outstanding performance at PMQs when she stood in for Jeremy Corbyn because Theresa May was absent.

The #Emily4Deputy hashtag first trended on social media in late March, when news of preparations for a challenge first broke, and there is significant support. Even in March, Ms Thornberry was understood to have 35 or 36 nominations by MPs/MEPs lined up – enough to stand if the post was vacant, but short of the fifty or so required to force a contest against an incumbent.

However, the equation has shifted since the General Election and Ms Thornberry is said to be very close to the (now 57) nominations she would need to force a contest whether Mr Watson wants one or…